Heart of the Hunter

The acting was superior and the story well written. As a Canadian I found the names initially confusing and needed to rewind and reference IMDB to get them all sorted but It didn't take away from my enjoyment of this movie. What did were the hand to hand combat sequences as either the actors errors or the directors shooting angles were off just enough to have punches and strikes obviously fake and this started in the first fights and continued throughout the movie. For that I downrated this movie two stars. Overall I enjoyed it very much and learned of some new to me very good actors. Give it a try.

I watched this movie because I've read most of Deon Meyer's books. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in cinema.

The movie is dark and has a lot of action, and the photography is alright. It tries to have a complicated plot about corruption.

Unfortunately in the movie the plot is mostly an excuse for a series of stunts, punch-ups and shoot-outs. The usual fare where henchmen take one or two punches but the main bad guy can take a hundred punches and keeps coming back.

Then I read the book. It shares the title, some characters and the main corruption theme but that's where it ends. All the nuance from the book is lost in the film in favour of quick and easy solutions. I won't go into spoilers but book and movie have different story arcs and a very different ending.

So if you're not interested in much of a plot but just want to see guys beating each other up, by all means, watch the movie.

If you want a more nuanced story with interesting characters and more realistic fights, read the book.

Heart of the Hunter: South African Political Corruption/Conspiracy Thriller in which turned government intelligence agencies make use of all of the myriad surveillance assets at their disposal. Refreshingly the main villain isn't white, in fact you have to teach the third tier of the conspiracy to find a white leader though many of the field agents are a lighter shade of pale. Some savage hand to hand fighting, car chases and generally the sort of thrills and spills you'd expect from this genre. The conspiracy is a bit more sophisticated though even if the main crook is a tad in OTT in his portrayal. There is also an interesting secret group of assassins. Certainly worth watching. Directed by Mandla Dube, Written by Deon Meyer and Willem Grobler. On Netflix. 6.5/10.

I watched it on Netflix and it's my first time watching an African production-based movie.

It's not bad, this movie is decent by all standards.

The terrible issue lies with the story and the execution The pacing feels very drawn out and messy to the point I found myself getting bored of the movie.

I won't dive into the specifics, but there are bland loopholes that sort of ruin the whole setup here. Like I want to get involved and emotionally invested in the movie. The potential is great, the transition between languages is an edge over most. Action wise it's up to par and no issues about that.

If I had one suggestion, the story should have had more polishing and enforcing.

Zuko Khumalo is part of the rebel group, an ace assassin and one such job of his ends up with him feeling guilty. He quits and starts a new life, finding the love of his life and her son. He is now leading a simple life as a mechanic and soon his past finds him. This makes him the new target of PIA whose chief is in cohorts with the corrupt presidential candidate who is all about cutting the loose ends and silencing his dissenters. As the conspiracy gets too much to bear, costing him dearly, how Zuko exacts his revenge and save his loved one, forms rest of the story.

This South African action film has it's moments and when the focus is on the action alone, it works. It is the conspiracy angle that gets bit too worked up and rather less convincing with the writing getting all too convenient. It's a film with serious tone and it doesn't deviate much from the main plot. It may not boast big action sequences but the hand to hand combat followed by the one with spears and machete, Heart of the Hunter remains partly entertaining. The contrived screenplay needed better treatment and though routine, it would've felt better if the focus was on one villain, for the hero to triumph.